Hey, hey, it’s just a couple of Monkees

Mike (Nesmith) and Micky (Dolenz) reunite on the road

Being one of the Monkees was always more complicated than it looked from the outside.

The Monkees were history’s most famous made-for-TV band, a virtuous counter to ’60s counterculture. They broke up for the first time in 1971, three years after their flagship show, “The Monkees,” was canceled, and have spent the decades since quarreling, making up and reuniting in various permutations, including one successful mid-’80s run.

Few reunions have featured the entire signature lineup of Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork: At least one Monkee was often unhappy with at least one other Monkee, and Jones died in 2012.

Dolenz, the band’s drummer and the lead singer on hits “I’m a Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville,” became a respected actor, producer and director; has released occasional solo albums; and builds furniture — he owns Dolenz & Daughters Fine Furniture with daughter Georgia.

He and Nesmith have reunited for their first duo tour, “The Mike and Micky Show,” which hits Copernicus Center on Thursday. In a recent phone interview, a genial Dolenz talked about the “Rashomon”-like experience of life inside the Monkees.

The following are excerpts from that conversation. tour), all four of us in the ’90s, and of course when Davy passed, Peter, Nes and I went out. Peter couldn’t make it this year; he chose not to.

In the early post-Monkee days in the early ’70s, I was probably closer to Nes than anybody else. We were on the same path. We’re both (producers). We have a lot in common. We actually probably stayed in touch more than any combination of us all.

The whole Monkee thing was a bit like “Rashomon.” From my perspective, I never had any problems with it. It wasn’t complicated for me. I’d already had a television series when I was a kid, so I knew that business. “The Monkees” was essentially originally a television show about a group, rather than actually being a traditional sort of group. I think that’s what a lot of people didn’t get. That confused a lot of people, but I never had a problem. Frankly, the haters and the trollers, when you’re as successful as we were, you just don’t (care).

The Monkees were compared to the Beatles. (They) were not. It was a television show about an imaginary group that lived in this beach house in Malibu. That was a set, which does beg the question of how we afforded a Malibu beach house, because we never got work. It was about the struggle for success. “The Monkees” was about this band that wanted to be the Beatles. That’s why I think it resonated so much with all those kids around the world who were practicing in their basements and wanted to be the Beatles. On the show, we were never famous. “The Monkees” was ultimately a lot more like “Glee.”

They were fans. They got it. John Lennon said the Monkees were like the Marx Brothers, and he was absolutely right. “The Monkees” was like a little halfhour Marx Brothers musical on TV. There’d be music and some acting and a bad guy and a dance.

The auditions were extensive. You had to be able to play an instrument, and you had to be able to sing. I was up for three other pilots that year, all about music. My audition piece was “Johnny B. Goode.”

It wasn’t nearly as crazy as people might think. The only time you saw young people on television, they were usually getting arrested. So along comes “The Monkees,” and little kids, they’d say to their parents, “Look, mom, the Monkees aren’t committing crimes against nature, and they have long hair.” “The Monkees” brought long hair into the living room and made it OK.

I didn’t even think about it. That never even occurred to me. In early press conferences, (the network) said, “You may be asked questions about the war.” We were certainly not encouraged to get involved in anything political because that wasn’t what the show was about, and the NBC censors were very strict. I didn’t care because I’ve never been political.

Over the last five decades, I’ve learned never to say never. That’s the easiest way to put it.