My grandfather made me....

Tommy Smothers has been making people laugh for more than thirty-five years as the sillier half of the Smothers Brothers comedy and music team. He and his brother, Dick, have brought joy to millions of people all over the world through the magic of television and live performances.

But success in life didn't always come easily to Tommy Smothers. Before he became a professional entertainer and created one of his most popular comedy characters, "The Yo-Yo Man," he had to beat the hard times life sometimes handed him. His grandfather was there to lend a hand every step of the way.

Even though I had two parents who loved me very much, my grandfather, Ed Remick, was actually the most important man in my life. My father was killed in World War II when I was very small. So my grandfather stepped in to help take his place.

He was very old fashioned--"old-world," they call it. He moved to America from Europe before I was born. So it was very important to him that we kids understood some old-world values.

Teaching me to be honest and work hard was very important to my grandfather. And he always encouraged me to keep trying--to never, never give up. That came in handy when I started school because, as it turns out, I was dyslexic. Things like letters and numbers got scrambled up in my head. But no one knew it. I didn't find out I had a learning problem until I was thirty-one years old. For a long time, I couldn't even read. If I hadn't learned to work hard, if I hadn't learned to never give up, I might not have made it through school or become a professional entertainer.

That same idea--never giving up--is a big part of the magic of yo, doing tricks with a yo-yo. Rick Kuhna wrote a yo-yo) song my brother, Dick, and I played on our television show. One part of the song says, "When your heart says yes and your mind says no, there is a very special place anyone can go. It exists between yes and no. It's the magical, mystical state of `yo'."

The greatest thing about the state of yo and the philosophy behind yo-yo is that it's not a perfect state. No one expects you to be perfect. They only expect you to try. And even when you make a mistake, you learn something. That's something my grandfather understood. That's something I believe in, too.