Mensch tracht, un Gott lacht

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Love that Bob Newhart . . .

As a longtime fan of Bob Newhart who has since discovered as an adult the man was even funnier than I'd previously believed, I happily point you to an interesting story by Cathy Seipp in National Review.

Here's a funny bit:

Contrary to Hollywood tradition, the 76-year-old comedian has been famously and happily married for 42 years to the same wife he started out with. When she gets the last laugh on him, he likes to tell the story. “I said, ‘Do you think Joanne Woodward makes Paul Newman take out the recyclables?’” he said, recalling a complaint he made on garbage day. “She said, ‘If you were Paul Newman, I wouldn’t make you take out the recyclables.’”

All this is an especially good thing because Newhart lived with his parents until he was in his late ‘20s and almost never dated. “We didn’t need to dig for dirt to make this interesting,” an A&E producer noted a few years ago, when the cable network’s Biography series premiered Bob Newhart: The Last Sane Man. After a perfectly timed pause, Newhart added then: “Luckily, the bestiality thing never came up.”

The old show is apparently coming out on DVD. I'm priming for a 70's nostalgia moment and may have to pick it up.

13 comments:

S. T. Karnick said...

I concur wholeheartedly. Bob Newhart is a brilliant comedian.

S. T. Karnick said...

True, his comedy really shined when applied to surreal situations. The earlier show was excellent at that also.

Hunter Baker said...

It's really tough to say which show is better. As a teen, I would have said "Newhart" set in Vermont (or Connecticut) was superior to "The Bob Newhart Show" set in Chicago. With time and distance, I can't make the call. Both were great. The way "Newhart" ended as a dream of Bob, from which he woke up in his bedroom from "The Bob Newhart Show" was one of the greatest television moments I've ever seen. Absolutely hilarious.

Anonymous said...

In the last days of my rapidly receding hairline, I'm comforted by the simple pleasure in not knowing that there was a "The Bob Newhart Show". Thanks Hunter, I really needed that today....

Hunter Baker said...

Just shows Mom and Dad didn't let you watch enough television, W!!! Your wife and I saw just about as much as we wanted!!!!

Hunter Baker said...

Tlaloc, something had to explain Larry, Daryl, and Daryl.

Kathy Hutchins said...

It's really tough to say which show is better.

This has been a controversial topic chez Hutchins. My husband is several years younger than I am, so I was watching The Bob Newhart Show during my high school and college years and John was watching Newhart during his. I was much more enthusastic than he at the appearance of the Season One Bob Newhart Show set. I think after I've made him watch each episode half a dozen times he'll see it my way. Or else he'll watch them again.

Anonymous said...

There must be some special alignment of the stars and planets today!

Tlaloc AND everyone else seem to be in agreement.

Perhaps I am in the midst of one of those surreal episodes right now.

Hunter Baker said...

This is true. The disagreement would come when we start talking about what inferences we can draw from some of these entertainments. I'm sure the first installment of The Matrix would get us going (so let's not).

Kathy Hutchins said...

The disagreement would come when we start talking about what inferences we can draw from some of these entertainments

So you're saying you don't want to hear my theory about how Suzanne Pleshette is the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Hunter Baker said...

Very funny, but let's do it anyway. I think she's more like an anti-Mary because she NEVER gets pregnant even though we see her and Bob in bed every night.

Kathy Hutchins said...

And she looked better in a sweater.

Tlaloc sez that Suzanne Pleshette looked better in a sweater than the BVM. Is there any way to read this that avoids the conclusion that Tlaloc thinks the BVM was a historical figure, and not, say, a ripoff of some Roman myth? (Not to mention he thinks we know what she looked like, which is farther than I'd go, frankly....) I am all astonishment, Mr. Darcy.

Hunter Baker said...

I think this is a good time to suggest that you need not quote the post directly above you when you respond to it. We see it there just above.