“Buttoned down” vet Bob Newhart, 94, passes
Bob Newhart may not be as familiar a figure to you younger guys, but to us old farts, he is a comic icon.
Like most of his generation, Bob served a two year term as a draftee in the Army.
He then enrolled at Loyola University Chicago from which he graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in business management.[7] Newhart was drafted into the United States Army and served in the United States during the Korean War as a clerk until being discharged in 1954. Wiki
His service was Stateside in an admin team and he did not go to Korea as many did. (I suspect he blessed that business degree nightly.)
After the war, he became a standup comic and struck comedy gold (not to mention the first comedy album to hit #1) with The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. And if you have never heard it, you should – as was the custom then, nothing terribly risque, NO profanity – and funnier than most of what passes for comedy now.) One of his most famous schticks was the one-way phone call, in which he would talk on the phone with an unheard other. Imagine Sir Walter Raleigh trying to tell someone in England about tobacco “you stick it in your mouth…and then you set fire to it” or the security guard on duty at the Empire State Building calling his boss about King Kong.
“I was an accountant for a while. 9 jobs in three years…I didn’t fit in, I was always “ah, if it’s within a buck or two, it’s close enough.”
Bob’s mildly stuttering, tentative style endeared him to millions of listeners – and tens of millions more when he had “The Bob Newhart Show, and later “Newhart” – which is widely regarded as having one of the, if not THE best show finales, in television history. More recently he appeared in series like “The Librarians” and made it all the way to “Big Bang Theory. Oddly, though never winning an Emmy for his highly rated shows, he finally one one in 2013 for the latter show.
Bob was married to his wife Ginny for 60 years, and they were extremely close friends with Don Rickles and his wife.
Wonder what he could have done with Trump and Biden?
Category: We Remember
The Bob Newhart shot was the extent pf most people’s knowledge of Vermont in the 80’s .
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” Hi, I’m Larry, this is my brother Daryl, and my other brother Daryl”…
Daryl and Daryl always had easy lines to remember.
Larry released a statement saying that he was heartbroken over the death of Bob Newhart. Darryl and Darryl were too upset to comment.
It would have been funnier if they spelled their names differently.
We have two Larry’s in a discussion group I go to. Of course I turn it around and say I’m Darryl and this is my brother Larry and my other brother Larry…
Kind of like Betty White and Minnesota with “The Golden Girls”
Favorite episode; when the girls went to visit Minnesota, and had to parachute out of the plane to get to where they needed to go, and the communication system consisted of a bunch of Norwegian, and Swedish offspring in trees hollering information across the snow covered fields.
Remember; I live in Minnesota and found this as funny as HELL!
I doubt that any of the regular Adorable Deplorables have not heard the King Kong routine, but for the benefit of the younger ones, here is the comedy classic.
https://youtu.be/SkVvNxJsdDI?si=vWi209S_ylD6xF9a
Catch 22:
A Class Act, all around, in the classic meaning of the words…to the very end. Made us laugh and despite the drop dead gorgeous co-stars he had thru-out his career kept the same wife the whole time.
Rest easy, Good Sir…you will be missed.
And he always had a MILF as his wife on show. Gave hope to all fellow geeks.
Would it kill you to wear more sweaters?
I had a copy of “Button Down Mind” when I was a kid. Still remember it today. Especially the bit when automation takes hold, and you have machines firing other machines. “Sit down ma-chine. Your work with us has not been going well, so we have to let you go.” It’s funnier in Bob’s machine voice.
Bob Newhart was so funny without being mean. Even when he cracked on a person directly it never came off as hurtful.
Bob Newhart is one of the top fiour people (non-historic figures anyway) whom I wish I could have met … the others being Mr Rogers, Al Jaffee, and Isaac Asimov
Bob Newhart was the only one who could portray Major Major’s order that no one could be let in when he was in his office; they could enter when he was out of his office.
No one else could ask Penny if she had a grandmother who was single; and when she replied no, they’re both married, he asked, “Happily?”
No yelling or cursing but with a undercurrent of adult content that was hilarious. Anyone who remembers the finale of Newhart will understand.
An even keel, steady without ego.
I doubt we will ever see his equal.
He had some gray lines as Professor Proton, especially when he was verbally sparring with Bill Nye.
‘how ’bout when he tried to commit seppuku with the light sabre? “Nope, that didn’t work.”
“Gray lines”? Proofread before posting, Hack, proofread. That should read great lines.
Professor Proton…”Tha…tha…thats’ your girlfriend?”
Leonard…”Yeah.”
Professor Proton…”You…you…you’re the genius!”
Rest Well….
Rest in peace Bob. You’ll be missed.
A short clip from a great episode. The rest of the scenes with Frank and Danny are gutbusters.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/TLwD9iuHZW5eao54/?mibextid=UalRPS
Gone are the days of true comedic genius with the passing of one of the finest American comedy players to ever grace a stage.
Not only was Bob one of the funniest players in any series he starred in, his ability to meld with some of the funniest characters ever conceived by any writer is legendary.
Suzanne Pleshette fueled many a drunken game of Strip Monopoly as my Trophy Wife and I would require a drink and a kiss, location determined by whomever was ahead at that point in time, when she would call his name, which was every few seconds if I remember correctly.
And then the Newhart Show with Mr Hurd, Jerry the inventor of Tommy the Tooth who would hang around the office sharpening a stick after he gained his wealth and Howard, inventor of the game of Snee-Ho. Snee-ho is no doubt the fueling game of the classic game of Calvin Ball as Calvin and Hobbes invented it as they went along !!!
The world is a damn site poorer with the loss of so many of the geniuses that we all grew up with.
And to that Trophy Wife I cheated, those were the best days of my life…
“Howard, how do you fly a plane?”
“No, no, no, you’ll have to go to school like I did”…
One of my favorite routines of his was the Roast of Johnny Carson.
“His first wife was Joan…his, his second wife was Joanna…he, um…he just won’t go for new towels…”
Something as simple and clean as that could make me fall on the floor for 10 minutes, unable to stop laughing, enjoying every second of suffocating.
God, I hope you can stay alive while laughing at our dear Bob Newhart.
In my illustrious stint in college, we used to play a drinking game during the Bob Newhart Show that was a blast. Every time Suzanne Pleshett said “oh Bob” you had to chug a Lonestar, Pearl or Buckhorn beer, whichever was on sale at Safeway at the time.
He was comedic gold and a good man. Sorry he is gone.
The greatest clip from Newhart:
https://youtu.be/g2H-9OmErYQ?si=CiyCTjdsFbSRZ7eA
IIRC, in his biography he took advantage of a WW2-era reg that said admin clerks couldn’t be stationed overseas (to handle the mass outproccesings after VJ day.), so he wouldn’t get sent to Korea.
My favorite was ‘Newhart ‘, not only because of Larry, Daryl, and Daryl, but uber yuppies Michael and the job-hating maid Stephanie.
Just paid tribute by watching “Cold Turkey”, about an entire town giving up smoking for 30 days. Pre “All in the Family” Norman Lear movie starring Dick Van Dyke and Bob with a stellar supporting cast.
Death Be My destiny clip from The Bob Newhart Show:
https://youtu.be/kAfVbJ_LIhc?si=vDU5K0C-VkvAFx7a