Plan B Forum

Bob Newhart died July 18 at the ripe old age of 94. He was the first comedian I recall liking, and I wore out the Button Down Mind album from playing it again and again, memorizing every routine. I used to love his appearances on variety shows, and really enjoyed his first series, The Bob Newhart Show, which I saw an an extension of his stand up. I also liked Newhart and even his appearances on the Big Bang Theory. His timing was impeccable, and his deadpan delivery was like nothing I ever saw before. While I never saw him perform in person I will miss him. It's always sad when the funny man dies.

Ditto

I only knew him on the TV - I will have to see if I can find a stream of that comedy album on the internet.

I remember his early stuff well. His schtick was telephone conversations, where the audience only heard his side and filled in the other side in their own imagination. That was also part of his tv show as a therapist. As an Inn Keeper it was ensemble show with the always deliteful three brothers, me, my brother Darrell and my other brother Darrell.

He was basically a very funny straight man, and always gentle humor. We seem to have lost that.

snailgate.

One of my favorites was him being the security guard calling his supervisor after King Kong was shot down.

Hope this works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Oh1SI9lbs

Burning Petard wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:10 pm

I remember his early stuff well. His schtick was telephone conversations, where the audience only heard his side and filled in the other side in their own imagination.
snailgate.

Shelley Berman also used that sort of routine — the one-sided telephone call — in his act before Bob Newhart came along.   Reportedly, it was somewhat of a sore spot with Berman that Newhart became better known for the shtick than he did, especially since he more-or-less originated it.

-"BB"-

CBS tv is running a Bob Newhart special tonight -- 8pm Eastern

snailgate.

Argument rages!

Shelley Berman was by no means the first comedian to do such routines. He might not even have been the thousandth. Just to name three, there was Arlene Harris, a popular radio comedienne…there was Georgie Jessel talking to various folks including his mother…and one of the oldest comedy records was a thing called "Cohen on the Telephone," recorded in London by Joe Hayman in 1913. Others recorded their version of Hayman's routine and you can hear one from 1916.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohen_on_the_Telephone Not so funny . . .

Shelley Berman specialized in the half-heard phone call and got to the idea before Newhart, but his manner was spikier and more irritable, both onstage and off, and his career soon plateaued; Newhart's hesitant, deadpan approach was easier to like and more durable and (it eventually turned out) adaptable.

This guy was pretty funny too....

Comedy always build upon what came previously, and Newhart was at the forefront of the laid back, dead pan style. He didn't go through histrionics, use funny voices, or even yell (like many in the 70s and 80s), but somehow with him that deadpan approach always seemed new and fresh.

I remember when they were a day late and a Darrell short.