Bob Newhart performs his unique, oblique brand of standup comedy in the early \u201860s. (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNewhart is best remembered as the star of two hit sitcoms, \u201cThe Bob Newhart Show\u201d (1972-78) and \u201cNewhart\u201d (1982-1990), a rare feat in such a fickle medium.<\/p>\n
In both series, he played a level-headed everyman reacting stoically to the insane situations created by the eccentric characters surrounding him — making expert use of a trademark deadpan stare and stammer.<\/p>\n
This was an extension of the act with which Newhart commanded the Congo Room stage at the Sahara during his 1963 Las Vegas debut. Newhart talked into a prop phone on which he pretended to hold one-sided conversations with historical figures and assorted unreasonable people.<\/p>\n
In one, he advised Abraham Lincoln: “Say 87 years ago instead of fourscore and seven.”<\/p>\nBob Newhart\u2019s marquee at the Sands in July 25, 1968, four years before he began a new career in television comedy. (Image: vintagelasvegas.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNewhart performed his unique, oblique standup through the early \u201970s up and down the Strip, appearing at the Sands, Desert Inn, Riviera, Frontier, and Caesars Palace, as well as the Golden Nugget downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf normalcy is a gimmick, Bob Newhart had one of stand-up comedy\u2019s greatest hooks,\u201d Gerald Nachman wrote in his 2003 book \u201cSeriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of all the pioneering comedians of the era — including Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Woody Allen, Nachman wrote, \u201cNewhart was the most Everyman of them all — nonethnic, nonabrasive, non-angst-ridden, non-you-name-it … His mild-mannered, quizzical nature worked like a sedative for the increasing craziness of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newhart’s Desire<\/h2>\n Born George Robert Newhart in Oak Park, Ill. to a German-Irish family, Newhart came to performing via a circuitous route. He studied at Loyola University in Chicago, from which he graduated with a degree in commerce in 1952. He then enlisted in the Army for two years before entering Loyola\u2019s law school and flunking out in 1956.<\/p>\n
Newhart found himself bored to death working as an accountant for the state unemployment department, so he fleshed some of his riper comedy ideas out while performing in a stock company in suburban Oak Park.<\/p>\nThe subtle Newhart and the anything-but-subtle Don Rickles, shown chatting together in 2010, couldn\u2019t be further apart as comedians, but they were close friends in real life. (Image: Associated Press<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSome of those routines ended up on his debut album, \u201cThe Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.\u201d The first comedy album ever to top the Billboard<\/em> chart, it earned Newhart Grammys for best comedy album and<\/em> best new artist of 1960.<\/p>\nThe following year, Newhart\u2019s comedian pal Buddy Hackett, known for his riotous Vegas shows, set him up on a blind date with Virginia Quinn — Ginnie to her friends — whom Newhart wed two years later. They remained married until her death last year.<\/p>\n
It would be negligent not to mention that Newhart helped create the hands-down funniest moment in sitcom history. At the very end of the last episode of his second hit sitcom, he woke up in bed next to his TV wife from his first hit sitcom (Suzanne Pleshette).<\/p>\n
\u201cHoney, honey, wake up,\u201d Newhart’s character said. \u201cYou won\u2019t believe the dream I just had.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bob Newhart, one of the most popular sitcom stars in television history, died Thursday at age 94. His publicist said he had recently battled a series of brief illnesses. Newhart is best remembered as the star of two hit sitcoms, \u201cThe Bob Newhart Show\u201d (1972-78) and \u201cNewhart\u201d (1982-1990), a rare feat in such a fickle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":325654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3313,81886],"tags":[91737,82083,85572,86653,91738,82976,84519,83806,82055,23,87183,81921],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Sitcom Star Bob Newhart, Comic from Vegas\u2019 Golden Age, Dies at 94 - Casino.org<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n