For 44 years, brothers Tom and Dick Smothers have been entertaining American audiences with their stand-up comedy, witty political satire and folk music. But more than four decades into their teasing onstage partnership, Dick Smothers admits that working with his brother hasn't always been a bed of roses.

"It's been like an old marriage -- a lot of fighting and no sex but you'd rather keep it going if it's at all possible," said Dick, the bass-playing straight man of the duo. "There have been big valleys and tough stuff and it would've been easy to say 'let's quit' but in the end, it's been well worth the struggles. All I know is that our relationship now is better than it has ever been."

The Smothers Brothers, who perform Nov. 21 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, anchored variety/comedy shows on CBS, ABC and NBC in the '60s, '70s and '80s, but it was for CBS' controversial "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" that the duo is best known.

The prime-time series, which ousted "Bonanza" from the No. 1 ratings slot in 1967, started out as a mixture of the sibling rivalry comedy and folk music that the Redondo Beach-born brothers had honed on the San Francisco club circuit in the early '60s.

Then in its second season, the series moved in a new direction with jokes about drugs, the counterculture and criticism of the Vietnam War. CBS was soon censoring jokes and entire skits and then canceled the show after its third season. Today, the "Smothers Brother Comedy Hour" is studied in political science classes for its brilliant satire and its effect on public opinion and policy.

Dick Smothers said that when he and his brother first launched the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," they never intended for it to become politically controversial.

"We weren't trying to be political," he said. "We just happened to have a show during the 1960s, which was the most tumultuous decade in American history. We had a team of really smart writers at the time (including Steve Martin, Mason Williams and Rob Reiner), and they were following the wishes of Tommy, who is a fire-breathing liberal, so it was just a matter of good writing and timing."

Today, the Smothers Brothers still have a few topical jokes in their show, but audiences shouldn't come expecting the kind of hard-hitting satire that marked their early television years.

"We want people coming out of our shows to feel good about life," he said. "If we were really wanted to hit people over the head with politics, we could do that but we would lose our fan base. We are not nasty people, we don't see a point in it. We want people to have fun."

The Smothers Brothers contribution to television history has lately been celebrated with a number of honors, including being invited by their old nemesis, CBS, to take part in the network's 75th anniversary special this past month and an appearance on the American Music Awards this past Sunday. The duo earned a career achievement award at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival last month, they have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Museum of Television and Radio in New York recently produced a retrospective of their work.

Today, the brothers spend about six to seven months of the year on the road performing together in what Dick calls "spasms of performances, where we can do a few shows and then go home to our families."

Home for Dick -- a health food nut and born-again Christian who cycles and does yoga in his spare time -- is Sarasota, Fla., where he lives with his wife, Denby. Together they have a combined 11 children from previous marriages.

Tom Smothers lives in Sonoma with his wife, Marcy, and their two children, where they operate the Remick Ridge Winery. Tom is also an avid golfer and yo-yo enthusiast.

Dick describes his brother as the driving force of their long and fruitful partnership.

"Tommy is the fire," he said. "Without him, I'd have been happy to be a retired teacher by now, living a quiet, traditional life. But Tommy pushed me to do this in the beginning and it grew on me. At first, when we were doing shows together I didn't talk and now I don't shut up."