WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:12.359 Callaroga Shark Media. Hello, Johnny Mack. Bob Newhart has passed away at 2 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.679 age ninety four. This episode is about Bob. There's the normal episode in 3 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.440 the feed right below this one from this morning. A friend of the show, 4 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.039 Jason Zinneman, writes in The New York Times, Bob Newhart holds up 5 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.280 great stuff from Jason as always. Jason writes, It's hard to think of 6 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.719 a stand up from that era. Who's a better argument against the commonplace idea 7 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:34.000 that comedy does not age well. His work doesn't just live on and its 8 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:37.320 influences. You can definitely hear his pregnant pauses in the stand up of Fellain 9 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:40.439 DeGeneres, who has cited him as a key figure in her career. Put 10 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:44.560 on his old comedy albums and you will chuckle. The Bob Newhart shows half 11 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.600 a century old and remains hilarious, paving the way for shows like Seinfeld. 12 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:53.079 He played a straight man surrounded by eccentrics, giving him an opportunity to express 13 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.880 endless kinds of exasperation. Later, his friendship with John Rickles gave him another 14 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:02.240 wonderful foil to playoff. Here's a clip from the roast of Don Rickles. 15 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:07.239 Bob Newhart here making some really funny jokes about Don. Don is my best 16 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:11.480 friend, which just give you some idea of the difficulty I have in making 17 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:21.000 friends. As some of you may have already known, Don's hotel room was 18 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:27.560 recently robbed. The only thing that was taken was the music to Don's act. 19 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:34.079 So by the Chicago police have picked up thirty three thousand people who might 20 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:41.439 have had a possible motive. So Don has not done that well in television. 21 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:45.000 He's had four series now. The last one, a couple of Don's, 22 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:51.719 received a minus four Nielsen rating. This name's note but no one watching. 23 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:55.359 But several people with our TV sets had heard about the show and said 24 00:01:55.359 --> 00:02:07.439 if they got one, they wouldn't watch it. Jason Zinneman writes, Newhart, 25 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.879 who got started in comedy in the nineteen fifties working on bitsy taped with 26 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.879 a friend, understood that the real partnership in comedy is with the audience and 27 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:16.840 knew how to plant an id in their heads and let them run with it. 28 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:21.159 That's why the phone was such an effective enduring tool for him. It 29 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.599 allowed him to use pauses to tell the story of what you don't hear most 30 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:29.360 comedians are in a hurry filling the room with quips. There's a wonderful tension 31 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:31.560 to this brand of comedy. But Newhart showed us there's another way you can 32 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.919 find surprise and adjusting speeds. Not everyone understood Newhart's stammer was an incredible tool, 33 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.400 but network executives for his TV shows told him to stop using it. 34 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:46.120 His response was the stammer got him a house in Beverly Hills. Jay Leno 35 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:51.960 told people Bob was always very kind to young comics. Jay said, never 36 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.840 a mean spirited bone in his body, never had jokes that were based on 37 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:57.240 anything uncind, you know what I mean. And there were no gimmicks. 38 00:02:57.560 --> 00:02:59.879 A lot of comics they have an ethnic cook or they have a catch for 39 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.599 they have something they do when the jokes aren't going that well that they go 40 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:06.199 to it. It always works. It's just the tool to trade. But 41 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.479 he always relied on just clever jokes, I mean, his old gimmick. 42 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:13.719 He was just an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, which is my favorite thing. 43 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:15.680 He always had these kind of really clever jokes. He had to listen 44 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:20.000 to, you had to pay attention. It was intellectual enough for intellectuals and 45 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:23.520 easy enough to understand for regular people. He never talked over anybody's head, 46 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:25.520 and he never used particularly big words or anything like that. It was just 47 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.879 a very clever way of doing things. He never had a shot joke. 48 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:31.759 He always had a good, solid joke. Sometimes it slipped in over the 49 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:36.439 audience's head, but most of the times it scored pretty good. Kara Burnett 50 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.439 tweeted, I had the great pleasure of working with Bob and being his friend. 51 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:40.840 He was as kind of nice as he was funny. He will be 52 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:46.280 missed. Dean Cook tweeted, Bob was and is one of the best comedians 53 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.000 to ever deliver, and man he delivered, always funny, always from the 54 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.960 heart. Always a reminder to me of why I started in stand up legend, 55 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:58.000 Bob Newhart, you are forever funny. Jimmy Walker dinah Miight said his 56 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.719 comedy albums were great. His TV show Knew Heart was cerebral genius. I 57 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.840 remember seeing him in twenty nineteen at the Pale Honors, a special tribute to 58 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.280 television's comedy Legends, where Bob was supposed to get up and say a few 59 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:11.080 words. He did like a half hour and kill at age eighty nine. 60 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.919 Judd Apatow said, Bob Newhart was the kindest, most hilarious man. He 61 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.160 asked me to make a documentary about his friendship with Don Rickles. I was 62 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.680 so lucky to get to spend time with my hero. His brilliant comedy and 63 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:26.160 gentle spirit made everyone he encountered so happy. Bill Prady, co creator of 64 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:30.279 The Big Bang Theory, where Bob Newhart guest starred as Arthur Jeffries, said, 65 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.839 heart explain how important Bob Newhart was to every comedian and comedy writer who 66 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.680 came after him. Working with him, ever so briefly was one of the 67 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:40.879 greatest joys and honors of my life. Jamie Lee Curtis on Instagram. They'll 68 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.639 be laughing wherever people go when they leave us. God, he was funny. 69 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.560 Bob Newhart, You will be missed. Jerny Gunderson is the executive director 70 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.720 of the National Comedy Center. Until the Hollywood Reporter, Bob Newhart's groundbreaking work 71 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:56.279 in stand up and television and his beloved deadpan delivery have lesst an indelible mark 72 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:59.680 in the art form of comedy and will be treasured by comedy fans for generations 73 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:03.639 to we are proud to celebrate and preserve his extraordinary work at the National Comedy 74 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:09.240 Center. In a nineteen eighty six Rollingstone interview, Bob Newhart said the secret 75 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:13.160 sauce of his sitcom was brevity. It's saying it in the fewest number of 76 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:15.600 words and giving the audience some credit for being intelligent being able to figure it 77 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:21.079 out. One self description of Bob Newhart's persona is the last sane man on 78 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:26.000 Earth. If you're in the mood for some Bob Newhart, the Catchy Comedy 79 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:30.079 Network might have to deep dive on your cable system there, but they're doing 80 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:33.399 a weekend binge with the Bob Newhart Show. Newhart and Bob, that third 81 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:38.439 TV series that didn't last so well. The tribute begins tomorrow Saturday at noon 82 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:43.240 Eastern on Catchy Comedy, and we'll go all through Monday until six am. 83 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.800 Go to Catchycomedy dot com for more about that. In this feed, I 84 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.879 shared an episode of TV in the Basement that's in the feed A couple episodes 85 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:55.720 down now. Joe Mitchell did a really nice tribute to Bob's TV work other 86 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:00.879 Bob stuff on The Hitmaker Chronicles. A deep dive into the buttoned down mind 87 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.959 of Bob Newhart. You'll find that podcast. It's called The Hitmaker Chronicles and 88 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:10.279 on five daily trivia questions. Today's topic Bob Newhart. I'll see you guys 89 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:10.800 in the morning.