WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:13.080 Callaroga Shark media man Bob Newhart has passed away. I was just sitting out 2 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:17.679 on the deck seriously putting together Friday Show. I had just published an episode 3 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:22.000 of Ballot Our political podcast, and texted Mark Francis, my business partner, 4 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:24.440 to tell him I really enjoyed the episode, and he wrote back, I 5 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:27.679 thought you'd be working on Bob Newhart and I was like, oh new and 6 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:31.320 jumped on the internet and I see the news here. Bob has passed away 7 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:36.079 at age ninety four. His death announced by his longtime publicist Jerry Digney. 8 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:40.719 Jerry Didnight's cide a cause of death. Bob's wife, Virginia, passed away 9 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.479 in twenty twenty three after sixty years of marriage. They had four children. 10 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.000 The Washington Post wrote, Bob Newhart was still living with his parents when he 11 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:51.479 was thirty. He was a balding, sylshied former accountant who talked in a 12 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:55.159 calculated, halting stammer. He was no one's idea of a superstar, Yet 13 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.920 within a year, his understated comedy routines had made him a national sensation. 14 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.079 Yeah do you know about the Newhart's first album got him a Grammy. He 15 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.680 became the first comedian with a number one record and the star of two long 16 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.000 running sitcoms, The Bob Newhart Show and New Heart. There was a third 17 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.400 one. It didn't last long, and that one was titled Bob. I 18 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:17.959 appreciated the joke and calling it Bob. His debut album, The Buttoned Down 19 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.200 Mine of Bob Newhart, sword past the recordings of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley 20 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.439 to reach number one on the Billboard Charts for fourteen weeks in nineteen sixty. 21 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.239 It was also the first comedy album to sell more than one million copies. 22 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.280 Bob Newhart remains the only comedian and win Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and 23 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.959 Album of the Year. It'd be hard to imagine that happening ever again in 24 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:42.920 modern times. Newhart best known for doing basically a straight man, often in 25 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:45.599 the form of a phone call. In one of the phone calls, he 26 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.040 imagined a press agent telling President Abraham Lincoln, listen, a what's the problem 27 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.120 you're thinking of shaving it off? Hey, don't you see that's part of 28 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.879 the image. The Bob Newhart Show ran on CBS from nineteen seventy two to 29 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.280 nineteen seventy eight. Part of a lineup that included listen to this power house 30 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:01.840 lineup, the Bob Newhart Show, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in 31 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.159 the Family, and the Carol Burnett Show, which is the quote unquote worst 32 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.560 of that lineup. I don't even know how to rank those. Wow. 33 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:13.840 On that show, Bob Newhart played a Chicago's psychologist coping with his patients and 34 00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.319 all their quirks. Suzanne Pluschette played his wife. On that show, Bob 35 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:22.000 insisted the couple be childless, saying I didn't want to do a certain kind 36 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:23.520 of show, which was the dumb father who keeps getting in these pickles and 37 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:27.520 these precocius children and the mother get it out of him. That was one 38 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:29.800 of the few conditions that I insisted on, and I think it was one 39 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:31.960 of the factors that made the show work. The other show, New Heart, 40 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:37.879 ran from nineteen eighty two to nineteen ninety. That finale famous because Bob 41 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:42.599 is knocked unconscious by an errand golf ball and he awakes aside Pluchette and the 42 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.919 bed of their Chicago bedroom. From the other show, Bob Newhart and character 43 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.159 says, Honey, wake up, you won't believe the dream I just had 44 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:51.520 Suzanne Pluschett is in the bed and goes all right, Bob, what is 45 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:54.240 it? Newhart says, I was an innkeeper in a crazy little town in 46 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:00.000 Vermont. Bob Newhart was proud to receive the Mark Twain Price for Humor because 47 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:05.199 the first person win the award was Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor had told Bob 48 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.960 a story in which Pryor had stolen a copy of The Button Down Mind of 49 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.800 Bob Newhart. Newhart thought Prior meant he had stolen part of routine. Pryor 50 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:15.840 said, no, I stole your record from a record store in Peoria, 51 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:17.800 Illinois. Newhart said, Richard, I used to get a quarter an album 52 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:22.639 in royalties. Prior turned and said, somebody give you a quarter. Prior 53 00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:27.039 handed Newhart the quarter as if repaying a debt. Bob Newhart all time great 54 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:30.039 age in ninety four. I'm bummed about this. I'm sure you are too. 55 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.280 All right in the morning the normal episode, and I'll probably wind up 56 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.560 doing a bonus episode in the late morning as the reactions come in and more 57 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:40.319 is said about Bob. Right now, I just did a quick search on 58 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:45.280 Twitter at his four p fifty two PM Eastern on Thursday afternoon, and the 59 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.039 only thing I'm really seeing is from Al Franken here, who wrote Bob Newhart 60 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.840 was a giant to genius and a great guy. I'll always remember when he 61 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:53.680 hosted SNL and did a stellar show. He was, as you might expect, 62 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:58.800 a joy to work with. May his memory be a blessing. See 63 00:03:58.800 --> 00:03:59.280 you in the morning.