{"id":1044,"date":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:56","slug":"ernest-chambers-smothers-brothers-comedy-hour-showrunner-dies-at-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044","title":{"rendered":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tErnest Chambers, the 11-time Emmy nominee who served with frequent writing-producing partner Saul Ilson as the original showrunners on <em>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour<\/em>, has died. He was 97.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1042\">White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner Redo Set for Next Month With \u201cSignificantly Enhanced\u201d Security<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tChambers died Thursday after a brief illness at his home in Los Angeles, a family spokesperson announced.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDuring his half-century career in show business, Chambers produced, wrote or executive produced more than 1,000 hours of television, with his productions amassing 51 Emmy nominations.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tChambers and Ilson started working together in 1963 on the first season of <em>The Danny Kaye Show, <\/em>then landed on <em>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour<\/em>, also for CBS, in 1967. They spent two seasons on the landmark variety program through April 1968, often tussling with network censors to ensure the counter-culture comedy of Dick and Tom Smothers made it to viewers across America.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cWe were part of something groundbreaking,\u201d Chambers said in a <em>THR<\/em> oral history of the show published in 2017. \u201cIt proved you could do topical satire, which has led to great shows today like <em>The Simpsons<\/em> and <em>South Park<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe pair also worked on <em>The Summer Brothers Smothers Show<\/em> in 1968 and on acclaimed TV specials and series featuring the likes of Frank Sinatra, Leslie Ugghams, Doris Day, Bobby Darin, Carol Channing and Tony Orlando &amp; Dawn.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOn his own, Chambers also wrote and\/or produced shows for Neil Sedaka, Donna Summer, Barry Manilow, The Captain &amp; Tennille, Barbara Mandrell and Gilda Radner and produced Merv Griffin\u2019s long-running talk show and the competition program <em>Dance Fever<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBorn in Philadelphia on Dec. 28, 1928, Chambers served in the U.S. Army and attended Columbia University, where he was editor-in-chief of the university humor magazine, <em>The Jester<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1040\">Billy Magnussen on \u2018The Audacity\u2019 and Playing a Deeply Insecure Silicon Valley CEO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn New York, he worked as an advertising copywriter by day while writing comedy sketches and songs for the vibrant cabaret scene at night, and he made it to Broadway in 1961, writing for the Channing revue <em>Show Girl<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tChambers then headed to Hollywood and wrote for such 1960s series as <em>The Bob Newhart Show<\/em> (a variety program), <em>My Three Sons<\/em>, <em>The Dick Van Dyke Show<\/em> and <em>The Danny Kaye Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tHe wrote the stage musical of <em>Dennis the Menace<\/em>, executive produced the 1993 feature adaptation that starred Walter Matthau and Mason Gamble and served as vp television &amp; film at Merv Griffin Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn 1997, he was the executive producer of the Griffin Entertainment game show <em>Click<\/em>, which gave Ryan Seacrest one of his first hosting gigs.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSurvivors include his wife of 55 years, Veronica; his daughters, Alison and Kathryn; his son, Christopher; and five grandchildren. Another son, Brian Chambers, a film editor (<em>NYPD Blue<\/em>, <em>Judging Amy<\/em>) and TV executive, died in 2011 at age 56.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tA memorial will be held in Beverly Hills in the coming weeks. For details, email ECMemorial2026@gmail.com. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1038\">Tina Fey Has Found Her Cozy Place With Netflix Hit \u2018The Four Seasons\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ernest Chambers, the 11-time Emmy nominee who served with Saul Ilson as the original showrunners on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, has died at 97.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[959,39,960],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-frank-sinatra","tag-obituaries","tag-smothers-brothers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ernest Chambers, the 11-time Emmy nominee who served with Saul Ilson as the original showrunners on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, has died at 97.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"headline\":\"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044\"},\"wordCount\":504,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Frank Sinatra\",\"Obituaries\",\"Smothers Brothers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044\",\"name\":\"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp\",\"width\":1296,\"height\":730},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1044#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"US Property Moves\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves","og_description":"Ernest Chambers, the 11-time Emmy nominee who served with Saul Ilson as the original showrunners on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, has died at 97.","og_url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044","og_site_name":"US Property Moves","article_published_time":"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"headline":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97","datePublished":"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044"},"wordCount":504,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp","keywords":["Frank Sinatra","Obituaries","Smothers Brothers"],"articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044","name":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97 - US Property Moves","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-02T17:08:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ae5430515c1b264e551f5c963d5db194.webp","width":1296,"height":730},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1044#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ernest Chambers, \u2018Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u2019 Showrunner, Dies at 97"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/","name":"US Property Moves","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/uspropertymoves.com"],"url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}