Remembering Bob Newhart
I was so sorry to hear about Bob Newhart passing today at the age of 94. But I was so glad to have had him around for 94 years. And active almost to the end, and popular and beloved to the end. And for all the people who only know and love Bob Newhart's work from his various TV series, it's hard to explain what a massive phenomenon he was years before that from his wildly popular comedy albums, starting in 1960 with "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," where he always played basically a one-man straight man, reacting to someone else on the other end of a phone. "The Button-Down Mind..." was such a huge hit that it became the first comedy album to make number one on the Billboard record charts and also won two Grammy Awards -- Album of the Year and Best New Artist. And yes, that was "Album of the Year," not just best comedy album.
He began in Chicago as an accountant (of which he'd later quip that his motto was "That's close enough"), but would occasionally do some comedy telephone bits with a fellow-worker would send as audition tapes to radio stations. When the partner left to take a job in New York, Newhart continued with his telephone comedy efforts. Tapes of them came to the attention of a local Chicago DJ Dan Sorkin (a weird, though funny guy my brother and I used to later listen to) who took the tapes to Warner Bros., who signed Newhart as a result of just hearing them.
His monologue sketches are so inventive, whimsical, human, funny, smart, timeless and supremely performed that they're a rarity -- comedy pieces that could be repeated for decades and still be funny.
And for all the people who know of his work mainly or only from his television series, even they largely are unaware of his 1961 TV variety show. It was unsuccessful, lasting only a year -- yet it was so wonderful that it was nominated for an Emmy and won a Peabody Award!
I don't remember much about it, I was a wee kidling at the time, but I do remember just one sketch. It was about a new baseball stadium being built in a formerly residential neighborhood, but one family didn't sell their home which still stood around third base. All I recall is that the sketch took place in the family's living room, with third base in the center of the room, along with the umpire and third basemen, who were very friendly with the family. And runners would have to open the door to get to the base.
I also liked his film work, though it was limited. I particularly enjoyed him in Hot Millions, opposite Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith. And Catch-22, as 'Major Major.' (I'm still hoping to see Norman Lear's Cold Turkey, that starred Dick Van Dyke, but as far as I can tell, it's still not available for streaming or on DVD.)
My favorite Bob Newhart line did not come from a sketch, but an off-handed comment he made, in reaction to -- of all things -- Clint Eastwood's odd attempt to ridicule President Barack Obama at the Republican Nation Convention.
Here's how he tells the story about it to the Los Angeles Times --
During Thursday’s telecast of the Republican National Convention, legendary comedian Bob Newhart, 82, got a call from his daughter Jennifer, who runs his Twitter account, @bobnewhart.His account was going through the roof during Eastwood’s rambling “stand-up” routine, during in which he pretended to have a conversation with an imaginary President Obama sitting in a chair next to him.The routine called to mind Newhart’s classic comedy bits where he would pretend to be talking on the phone with someone who was often in a panic, like a young security guard seeking help from his boss when King Kong starts climbing the Empire State building.“She said [twitter followers] are saying, ‘He’s doing you,’” Newhart said by phone Friday afternoon. “We need a quote of some kind.”Newhart had the RNC on the television waiting to catch Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney make his acceptance speech but wasn’t paying attention to Eastwood’s remarks until his daughter called.“I just caught the tail end of Clint,” said Newhart, who has met Eastwood and found him to be a “very nice man.”“I don’t know how long he had been on, but the chair was there,” he said. “I kept watching it and watching it. I want to say to Clint -- it’s not as easy as it looks, is it?
There are so many great Bob Newhart classics, it's near-impossible to say "This is his best" or "This is my favorite." Leading contenders are, of course, The Driving Instructor, Lincoln meets Madison Avenue, Security Guard's First Night when King Kong Climbs Up, and Bus Drivers Training Class.
But shifting gears slightly, I'll make a leap and say that my favorite little known piece is probably "The Grace L. Ferguson Airline (and Storm Door Company)". I always laugh at it from the whimsical lunacy of the name alone. But there's a lot more to laugh at in it than that.
I'm going to include a bonus, for two reasons. One, because I think it's important to show Bob Newhart doing one of his monologue sketches on video, and two, because he's said that this is probably his own favorite piece. It's Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue.
Comments