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This article was originally published on March 15, 2018.
We are republishing it after thenews of Newharts deathon July 18, 2024, at age 94.
Read Matt Zoller Seitzs remembrance of the comedy legendhere.
When did you become aware of Bob Newhart?
Was it as the comedian that Joel Maisel steals material from?
Teri Hatchers moms boyfriend onDesperate Housewives?Buddy the Elfs adopted father?
An accidental mourner at Krusty the Clowns funeral?
The star ofNewhart?The star ofThe Bob Newhart Show?
The stand-up comedian on the phone all the time?
In 1958, Newhart was working as a copywriter in Chicago for a film and television producer.
The pair recorded a sample of these, which they shopped around to local radio stations.
None of them bit, his partner dropped out, and Newhart went solo.
But beyond that, things were dismal.
In an interview for the PBS documentaryMake Em Laugh, Newhart recalls: Dan called me up.
He said, Put what you have on tape and Ill play it for them.
So I put them on tape, brought it down there, they listened to it.
And I said, Well, we have kind of problem there Ive never played a nightclub.
So they said, Well, well have to get you into a nightclub.
Well, pretty much.
The first recording was unusable because Newhart was audibly nervous throughout the entire performance.
The second night, a drunk woman in the audience kept yelling, Thats a bunch of crap!
The third night, though that was the winner.
But even more subtle in Newharts comedy is his ability to marry the modern innovation with the relatable.
Lets do a quick run-through.
Four score and seven years ago sounds so much better than 87 years ago.
Just read it the way Charlie wrote it.
The Crisis of the U.S.S.
The Kruschev Landing Rehearsal
This routine imagines the camera rehearsal for the Russian leaders visit to America.
Its the first half-exception to my dated comment.
Driving Instructor
And heres the other half-exception.
1, pushing the original down to the No.
Not too bad for your first time onstage.
