Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart, better known as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide bestseller and reached number one on the Billboard pop album chart—it remains the 20th best-selling comedy album in history. The follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! was also a massive success, and the two...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth5 September 1929
CityOak Park, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I made a record album in 1960 and it exploded, and I got all these offers for TV.
I have to warn you, I'm not just some sitcom guy. I'm now an author.
I don't know how to do a show not in front of a live audience.
I can't do a one-camera show. I don't know how to do that kind of show where you count in your head and then you do the next line.
For a comedian, there is nothing better than watching another great comedian.
You're not dead at 85. You're a long way from it. Go out and enjoy. You've earned it.
You may have done 20 great shows in a row and come to one, and it doesn't work. You never presume anything.
If 'The New York Times' says it, it must be true.
I have no intention of retiring; I can't imagine not doing stand-up. That's where I started and where I'll be.
I don't think too much about age. Maybe if you're hurting, aching and arthritic, then you think about it a lot. But I don't.
I don't think of myself as an American Master. I've just been making a living.
The highest of highs is to have a new routine that you're just breaking in and that's working, and that's - you're one step removed doing a situation comedy because you have a live audience there.
One time I happened to use the word 'denigrate' onstage, and it didn't get any reaction. So as I continued my act, the left side of my brain was fast-forwarding to see if I had any other big words coming up.
I just made the decision that I was going to try comedy, and if didn't work, then I knew it didn't work. Then I would go back and do whatever. But at least I wouldn't torture myself the rest of my life, wondering whatever would have happened.