Bob Newhart (1929–2024)

It's hard to believe how out there he was, when audience seems to know the whole think by heart--which Newhart remarks on to great effect. Still funny if familiar.

Excellent. I love Bob Newhart's comedy. His stories here are wonderfully funny...I was surprised at how many sections I highlighted. Some had me laughing out loud (literally...not the acronym thing). I got a chuckle from the part where he was sharing that he never understood why The Bob Newhart Show never won an Emmy:

We also didn't do shows on the heady material that Emmy voters seem to prefer. Our idea of a serious issue was when Emily and I were having a costume party at our apartment and

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Jerry arrives wearing an Uncle Sam costume. Then Marsha comes in wearing an Uncle Sam costume. Finally, Howard enters in the same Uncle Sam costume.
"That's weird," Jerry says, "We all rented the same costume."
"Howard replies, "What do you mean 'rented'?"

I could be Howard, because I don't have to rent my own Uncle Sam costume. The book reminded me how much I liked his two (successful) shows. Time to pull out the wayback machine and binge. show less

This is a really enjoyable review of the history of comedy and America with Newhart interviewing several comedias. This includes Will Ferrell, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, Sarah Silverman, and several others. It is all edited topically so the serial interviews sound like group conversations. The only issue I had was the programming order. I heard once a good comedy program is B, C, then A, material. (If I remember this right.) That is, open strong, put the risky, experiments in the middle show more the finish with the best most memorable bits. Well, this is ABC then. Also, the final and extensive two pieces ( one, with Conan suggesting ripping off children's' charities and then one with Ferrell mocking a sorry stalker) are longer than any others and so unlike Newhart material as to end the thing on a wrong note. show less

As someone who has a lot of affection for Bob Newhart, I found this book exceedingly disappointing. Is it a biography? Well, at times he talks about his life, but there are large parts of it that he barely mentions. Is it a humor book? Well, its not very funny, perhaps because a large part of what makes Newhart so amusing is his delivery, which you don't get in written form. Instead, this book just kind of meanders, occasionally giving us an important tidbit from his life or a mildly amusing show more sketch, but never able to make up its mind as to what it really wants to be. show less